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I think I have forgotten to mention that I am training for a half-marathon.

Let me say that again. I (the person who HATES running) is training (like running…A LOT) for a half-marathon (translation: 13.1) miles. The Disney Princess Half-Marathon to be exact.

But, that’s not even the whole truth. I am actually going to run the Disney Glass Slipper Challenge in February. This means that I will run a 10k on Saturday (6.2 miles) and a half-marathon (13.1 miles) on Sunday. A total of 19.3 miles.

Belle and I have been training for a couple of months now and Husband is refusing to train. Of course, he will probably do just as well as we do without any training, because he’s just one of those people who is good at everything. Yes, it’s okay to hate him.

Unfortunately, I have already had a couple of hiccups in the road (hello injuries!), but I don’t want to focus on the struggle just yet. No, instead let’s talk about the important stuff…. costumes.

Obviously, I need to dress like a princess for the half-marathon and this may be the hardest decision I’ve ever made. What do you guys think?

Cinderella and Prince Charming? You know, Husband loves when I force him to dress in costume.

Cinderella pre-fairy Godmother

Belle…and Husband could be Prince Adam (post-Beast)

Belle Pre-Beast

Those are my top four favs, but I am open to suggestions. OH and before I forget Luna will be running a toddlers’ 100m dash! Gah, another costume to plan!

Wish us luck and I’ll keep you posted on all of our training plans, triumphs, set-backs, costume decisions and everything in between!

We are so far into summer and it is so hot there aren’t enough popsicles in the world to keep us chill. Even though I am working part-time now, we are still doing our best to keep Luna busy (and exhausted) this summer. Our days at home are spent trying to find and do creative, outdoorsy, social, crafty, not expensive toddler-friendly activities. We’ve managed to keep busy at the house, but lately all I want is to be OUT. The past couple of weeks I’ve compiled some ideas of not only fun away-from-the-home activities, but also FREE away-from-the-home activities!

The pool!

Okay, this first one is debatable…some pools are free. We are lucky enough to have friends and family with pools and a pass to the local rec center that was gifted to us from Grandma. If you know people with pools or have a neighborhood pool, use it! Jumping in a pool of water is just about the only relief you can get in August. Also, invest in a puddle jumper for your littles. We love ours!

little fish

2. Splash Pads!

There are two splash pads around Nashville. (The second best form of relief in the August heat.) The one in Spring Hill has dozens of interactive sprayers, squirt cannons, fountains and showers. It’s a kid’s summer wonderland. Plus, there is the coolest and newest playground right next to the splash pad – complete with artificial turf and a crazy climbing tower.

The splash pad in Spring Hill, TN

The second splash pad is actually in Nashville. It’s new, it’s on the Cumberland River right under the Pedestrian Bridge and it’s awesome. There are interactive features, rain curtains, a sand play area, a playground with a rock-climbing wall and more. We can’t wait to go back!

The Nashville spray park

3. Playgrounds!

Luna loves playgrounds, but she is OBSESSED with slides! Or, “shlides” as she calls them. We hit up playgrounds all over the city, but you can find us in Brentwood most often. My child will be the one hogging the slide and piling mulch on the steps.

Luna’s favorite piece of playground equipment, “shlide”.

4. The public libraries!

The libraries in Williamson Country freakin’ rock. We have story times, craft times, preschool hours, oh and let’s not forget the free books and DVD’s. It’s heaven for both me and Luna. I hope her love of books stays with her for life.

The Brentwood Library

5. Whole Foods! (And other free classes for toddlers.)

Our local Whole Foods has a free kids’ hour every Wednesday at 9:30. It’s a really good hour with local performers, music and dancing. Unfortunately, I’ve started working on Wednesdays so we’ve had to miss our kid’s hour. Whole Foods isn’t the only local place hosting free activities, especially in the summer. For all my local readers, check out Nashville Parent for LOTS of free activities for all ages. And, for my non-locals, check out the local libraries, parks, rec centers, gyms, museums and mom groups. I promise there’s more going on than you think!

It’s been a couple of months since our last race, but it was so much fun that I’m still going to share our experience. Better late than never! On June 20th, we ran the Gay 5k in Nashville. The Gay run is for celebrating diversity, promoting a healthy community while also raising funds for OutCentral. OutCentral is an LGBT community center that educates, empowers and builds a positive space for the diverse LGBT community. So, basically we ran for an organization who is teaching love and acceptance for ALL, that’s my kinda cause.

There were two questions that were frequently asked when we did this race:

1) Do you have to be gay to run?

Uh, no! Or course not, anyone can celebrate and support diversity!

2) What are you going to wear? (Because people know us so well.)

Rainbow, duh! And BTW, we received a spirit award for being our adorable selves. However, our team was a little disappointing. We were supposed to have a much bigger group, but the rain kept some away, including Husband and Luna.

We are totes adorbs

My favorite part of our “costume” was my eyelids. I regret not having more time to glitz them up, but aren’t they kind of amazing?

If I was willing to get up 20 minutes earlier, I might wear my eye makeup like this everyday.

The race was smaller than normal, thanks rain, but I was still VERY thrilled to get first place in my age group! I’m finally feeling like a real runner! Although, there was a little boy (maybe 8 years old?) who beat us! He was a beast!

Yay me!

After all of the race shenanigans, we kept our tradition and had a delicious breakfast (at the newly opened Love Coffee) and coffee at Starbucks, of course. Husband and Luna joined us for the celebration.

Breakfast celebration with Luna.

We skipped a July run because they all interfered with our half-marathon training, but no fears, we have another race this coming weekend!

Today is International Cat Day, it’s also exactly 4 weeks since Duckie escaped the pet sitter’s house while we were at the beach. It’s been a rough four weeks here. Mostly because I get sad, but then convince myself that she well come back, or we will find her, or someone will recognize her from the flyers or she’ll “homeward bound” her way back to our house. It’s a lot of back and forth and wishful thinking. Duckie is a part of our family and the house just hasn’t been the same without here begging for more food, sleeping on our faces and teasing Belle. However, after four weeks I have to come to terms. I think it’s time I let myself be sad and start to say good-bye to the best cat that there has ever been.

I don’t want to be anymore depressing than that, so we’ll just leave it with some of my favorite pics of Duckie for us all to enjoy. After all, it is National Cat Day.

The Best of Duckie

Me and Ducks when I was about 8 months pregnant.Duckie’s favorite spot in the house.Belle pretending she doesn’t see a cat in the bed a couple of days after we rescued Duckie and brought her home.One of the first photos taken of Ducks.When Luna and I came home from the hospital and took a nap. Duckie just had to be the one closest to me.And, when we first got home from our 10 day hospital stay…we had the sweetest welcome home crew!Duckie’s first Christmas

In case you missed the story of how we found and rescued Duckie almost two years ago, you can read it here.

Luna recently returned from her second annual family vacation to Hilton Head Island, SC. This summer vacation was a different animal compared to last summer. Last year, Luna was a 6-month old not-crawling-yet baby. This year she is a fearless running wild toddler with a will to jump in deep water at a moment’s notice. Meaning? This year’s beach trip was the best (and sometimes scariest) one yet.

Luna had such a good time that I decided to compile a bucket list of her (well, my) favorite beach activities.

Watch the sunrise on the beach. Luna and I did this a few times because someone likes to wake up at 5am, but one morning we shared a special sunrise time with some of our favorite people and we added champagne.

Champagne sunrise!

2. Let the littles swim naked. Luna’s favorite skinny dipping time with during the sunrise.

3. Take lots of bike rides and stay active. We rode bikes every single day around the island, and while it may not look like it, Luna loved being pulled around in her private cart.

She is clearly overjoyed…

4. Buy a puddle jumper and let them swim. Luna LOVES her puddle jumper. She begs to wear it, and I love it even more. Luna went swimming in the pool and in the ocean every single day.

I swear she normally looks more graceful

5. Get a little dirty. What else would you do on the beach if not play in the sand?

6. Dress that baby in white and force them to take a photo on the beach. You’ve just got to do it.

classic

7. After the photo, let them just be their silly selves and get that new white dress all broken in.

8. Finally, spend as much time with your crazy family as possible. Even if it means learning weird new yoga poses. This is one of the few times you are all together and that everyone gets to bond with that toddler of yours. Embrace it and enjoy it.

My daughter is 18 months and a few days, or “closer to two than one” as a friend of mine pointed out the other day. We had her 18-month well-visit, which was a total sh*t show BTW (Note to self: never EVER schedule a doctor appointment in the middle of nap time.) As we left the check-up her doctor reminded me that he wouldn’t need to see her again until her second birthday. HOW is that possible??? This child is growing at lightning speed and while I hate it and so often just beg time to slow down, I also kind of love it. Luna is the coolest toddler I know and watching her learn new stuff everyday is the best. It makes the whole getting older thing not so terrible.

Aww, sweet thang

At 18 months she is doing forward rolls, playing with dolls, learning how to listen and kind of sort of follow some directions. While she is still a good eater, she has become pickier. She has started refusing certain foods (like green goldfish, what the heck?) and requesting her favorites…cheese. She LOVES putting things in and out of baskets and purses and then carrying them all around the house. She’s also a huge fan of accessories. Hats, bracelets, necklaces and shoes are all the rage. She has peed in her potty twice (woo!).

ALL the time

Her hair is growing, so I can actually put in a bow, which lasts about 7 seconds. I’ve attempted pigtails a couple of times, but I think we both need a dose of Valium to make that a successful endeavor. The girl is obsessed with books and either “reading” them to herself or begging us to read the same ones over and over and over and over. YES. T. Swift is still her fav music and YES “Shake it off” is still our go-to anytime we have an uncontrollable meltdown. She loves being in the water is actually learning to get around in it pretty well.

Swimming at the beach in Hilton Head.

This summer she has been to the zoo, the aquarium, the beach, Hilton Head Island, Texas, a couple of splash pads, the pool, lots of parks, the library, a few parties and had many trips to Starbucks. It’s always one adventure after another.

JUMP!

She’s still hasn’t mastered the art of naptime or even sleeping through the night, but hey who needs sleep? Can I get an amen Moms? #teamnosleep

“Wait for me Dad!”Picking fresh berries at Wagner Berry Farm.

AND did I mention my super-advanced little genius has her first joke? Get this, We say “Hey Luna, say “fish””, and Luna says “shoe”. She then immediately cracks up at her own joke. That’s pretty hilarious material, right? I think I’ve got the next Amy Schumer on my hands (Dear God, please no).

Another year, another big Hilton Head family vacation. It’s our favorite week of the year and while I was nervous about having a wild toddler around a pool and an ocean every second of every day, I still had the best week of the year at our favorite beach house. Seeing Luna enjoy the beach as much as her parents makes us as happy as clams…as does the many various family members who beg to watch her every waking second. #yay #freetime

I’m positive that every single family who takes a beach vacation, spends at least one evening taking advantage of “magic hour” to capture the classic family-in-the-sand photograph. We do it every year and as often as we try to mix it up and get a bit creative, but every year they look likes this…

Top is from 2013, bottom from 2014.

Of course, nothing is wrong with these photos. They’re adorable, traditional and bring back great memories. However, they aren’t exactly unique or exciting. So, this year we FINALLY mixed it up a bit. It took a few of us to put our heads together, and what we came up with is now my favorite group Hilton Head photo.

Soooooo…..here we are!

Hilton Head 2015

I mean, how could we not take a photo in the most enormous shower? AND, how could we not wear towels in the shower?

Happy Summer yall!

Cheers!

P.S. I must apologize for my very looonnnngggg blogging vacation. I did not want to be gone this long. It’s just a lot harder than I expected to start a part-time job, be a mostly-stay-at-home Mom, write and keep up our adventures. To be honest, I usually write at night when everyone goes to bed, but lately I have just gone to bed! (Or maybe watched some OITNB, which is kinda disappointing this season, right?) I’ve missed you! I’ve missed my Internet life and I’ve missed this creative outlet!!! I WILL find my way back. Pinky Promise!